The latest from the Local Government News Roundup, including:
A call for an increase to the pensioner rates rebate;
The new Victorian Mayoral Advisory Panel revealed;
A Queensland council’s systems taken offline due to a ransomware attack;
CEO movements in Western Australia;
Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters;
and much more news from around the world of local government.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
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Transcript (with story links where available):
Hi, this is Chris Eddy, with the latest from the Local Government News Roundup.
On the podcast today:
A call for an increase to the pensioner rates rebate;
The new Victorian Mayoral Advisory Panel revealed;
A Queensland council’s systems taken offline due to a ransomware attack;
CEO movements in Western Australia;
Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters
And much more ahead in the latest update from the Local Government News Roundup.
Thanks for joining me for today’s podcast – brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association.
Here are some of the Victorian council related stories making news in recent days.
A metropolitan council is calling on the state government to increase the annual pension rebate amount on council rates.
Moonee Valley council unanimously passed a motion last week to write to the Premier and the Local Government Minister seeking a lift in the rates concession for aged pensioners.
This would lift the rebate to 50 percent of the average annual rate payment for inner metropolitan councils, the level at which it was on its introduction 40 years ago. The Council says the current cap equates to 13 percent of its average annual rates.
Mayor Pierce Tyson said a copy of the letter would be provided to the MAV and the state’s other 78 councils.
Source: Moonee Valley City Council
New land use planning protocols have been introduced to Casey City Council’s Councillor Code of Conduct.
The changes have been made ahead of the release of Operation Sandon report from IBAC, which has been looking into allegations of serious corrupt conduct in relation planning and property development decisions by the former council.
According to the Dandenong Star Journal, the panel of administrators currently in place at Casey sees the changes as essential for good behaviours in the future.
The updates include specific conduct obligations between councillors and planning and property development stakeholders.
Source: Dandenong Star Journal
Local Government Minister Melissa Horne has held her first meeting with a new Mayoral Advisory Panel, which was announced on Monday.
Thirteen mayors from across the state have been tapped to meet on four occasions during the year to offer advice to the minister on legislative, regulatory, strategic and policy issues affecting councils.
Governance and accountability are expected to be focus areas for the panel this year.
You can find the list of the thirteen appointed mayors at the link in the show notes.
Source: Victorian Government
A range of design ideas has been released by the City of Melbourne for the Greenline Project, a plan to provide four kilometres of interconnected promenades and open spaces between Birrarung Mar and the Bolte Bridge.
The proposals, developed by landscape architecture and design experts, include tree-lined vistas, riverfront boardwalks, event spaces, natural wetlands and cultural meeting places.
The ideas will go to community consultation, which will inform a draft masterplan which is scheduled for completion in the coming months.
Source: City of Melbourne
The VLGA launched its five year strategic plan at its annual councillor leadership development day in Melbourne last week.
The plan covers four key focus areas, including building councillor expertise and capability; good governance strategy and practice; partnerships; and support to address the challenges to good governance.
A key proposal in the plan is to develop a helpline and early intervention service for elected members and senior executives by 2024.
Source: Victorian Local Governance Association
Now in today’s Victorian Briefs:
A new youth hub planned for Diamond Creek will give young people in Nillumbik a space of their own, with the state government announcing a contribution of $300,000 to the project.
The funding will be matched by the council, and will enable delivery of the shire’s first youth hub through redevelopment of an existing council building.
Work will start late this year for completion in early 2024.
Source: Nillumbik Shire Council
The MAV has appointed its Deputy Presidents for the new board term at its first formal meeting last week.
Crs Jennifer Anderson of Macedon Ranges Shire and Joseph Haweil of Hume City are the non-metropolitan and metropolitan Deputy Presidents respectively, and will support President Cr David Clark over the coming two years.
Source: Municipal Association of Victoria
Indigo Shire Council is the latest to consider introducing a 24 hour cat curfew.
The Border Mail reports that the council is calling for community feedback on the options for a curfew, including a dusk to dawn option or a blanket curfew.
The proposal is contained in the council’s draft animal management plan, which also includes a proposal to introduce mandatory cat desexing before registration.
Source: Border Mail, 4-4-23
A 12 month trial of coffee-cup specific recycling bins will kick off in the coming months in Moorabool Shire Council.
The Melton Moorabool Star Weekly reports that the recycling trial aims to reduce the number of single use coffee cups being sent to landfill – potentially to be repurposed for use in road base or asphalt, reusable coffee cups and lightweight concrete slabs.
Bins will be placed in six locations around the shire in the coming financial year.
Source: Melton Moorabool Star Weekly
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Now for some of the stories making local government news from around Australia this week.
A Queensland council has been hit by a ransomware attack, leading to many of its services being taken offline on the weekend.
The incident at Isaac Regional Council, southwest of Mackay, was discovered on Saturday.
ICT systems were turned off as a precaution, and specialist cybersecurity experts were called in.
CEO Jeff Stewart-Harris said on Monday that there was no evidence of large data uploads out of council systems, but this was still being fully investigated.
All internal systems have been affected, resulting in reduced customer service capabilities. The CEO said some separate systems are unaffected, including landfill operations and libraries.
It is not known how long the investigation will take. The Council has established a webpage with regular updates and frequently asked questions.
Source: Isaac Regional Council
In Western Australia, the CEO at the City of Wanneroo has resigned after 20 years with the council, including 15 in the top job.
Daniel Simms is making the move to head up the City of Cockburn, and will take up the role after 1 July.
The city has been led by executives Victoria Green and Emma Milne, sharing the role on an acting basis since last September, following the resignation of Tony Brun in July.
Mr Brun now heads up operations at Avalon Airport in Victoria.
Source: City of Wanneroo; City of Cockburn; PerthNow
A Sydney council’s proposal to put the running of two non-profit childcare centres to private tender has attracted media and community attention.
Strathfield Council was last night due to vote on a proposal to put the running of the centres at Strathfield and Homebush to an expression of interest process when their current leases expire later this year.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the proposal is one of a number of measures that the council is looking at to address its worsening financial position, including applying for a special rate variation to address funding gaps and infrastructure backlogs.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
At Randwick Council, a narrow majority vote has backed a $10M proposal to create an artificial scuba reef off Coogee Beach.
However, the project faces an early hurdle after three councillors lodged a rescission motion, delaying any action until it is dealt with at its next council meeting.
While Mayor Dylan Parker supports the creation of scuba diving and snorkelling options, and a boost to tourism, the opposing councillors are concerned about the cost and impact on marine life.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a petition with around 14,000 signatures in support of a dive wreck is due to be presented to the NSW State Parliament.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
In South Australia, concerns about anti-social behaviour in Port Lincoln have prompted a meeting of community leaders to discuss preventative measures.
A recent violent attack on a female school student involving a number of young females has been described as appalling by Mayor Diana Mislov.
She said the incidents are being fuelled by the infamy of social media, and has questioned whether there is adequate resourcing for police in regional areas to address these sorts of incidents.
Source: City of Port Lincoln
Local Government Ministers from across the country met in Canberra last week for a forum with Federal Minister Kristy McBain.
Opportunities for growth were at the top of the list of issues discussed, as well as a focus on governance, resilience and emergency management as many communities recover from the impacts of natural disasters.
Minister McBain said the forum was an opportunity for productive discussions with state and territory counterparts on the different challenges and capabilities of jurisdictions.
The Minister said the forum was also used to inform the agenda for the reestablished Australian Council of Local Government, which will take place in June.
Source: Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories
The review of local government in Tasmania has reportedly attracted input from over 4,000 individuals and organisations, either making submissions or meeting with the review board.
The Advocate reports that an interim report from the Local Government Board is due for release this month, ahead of the third and final stage of the process.
Local Government Minister Nic Street said the recommendations from the report will be considered, but he has avoided being drawn on the possibility of council mergers.
Source: The Advocate, 4-4-23
Briefly:
Experienced local government CEO Gary Clark has commenced this week as the interim CEO at WA’s Shire of Plantagenet.
Mr Clark takes over from Cameron Woods, who departed last month for the CEO role at Town of Bassendean.
He will support the council through the transition phase as a recruitment process for a permanent CEO takes place.
Source: Shire of Plantagenet
Northern Beaches Council in NSW has installed a further three EV charging stations bringing the total number in its area to 20, with many more planned.
The Council says its areas is one of the fastest growing in the country for EV uptake
Source: Northern Beaches Council
And South Australia’s Southern Mallee District Council finally has a full complement of councillors, some five months after general elections.
The Murray Valley Standard reports that five new councillors have taken up their roles after a supplementary election last month, ending a period of the council having to operate with just two elected members.
Source: Murray Valley Standard
Ahead of the International Spotlight, if you haven’t seen the ABC’s 7.30 report on the sovereign citizen movement that is trying to take control of council decisions, I recommend you check it out.
It goes behind the plan to disrupt council meetings, which has seen police called to meetings in South Australia; the recent temporary halt of a Yarra Ranges Council meeting in Victoria; and the creation of a shadow People’s Council of Frankston.
Source: ABC 7.30
Now for today’s International Spotlight:
In Paris, a blow for shared micro mobility companies as the city’s residents voted to ban rental e-scooters.
TechCrunch reports that a referendum organised by the city’s mayor Anne Hildago has returned a result of 89% support to remove e-scooters from the streets.
Pushback against the devices has been growing due to the belief that they cause accidents, clutter sidewalks, and cost too much to be sustainable.
TechCrunch research suggests that while scooter usage has been high, it has mostly replaced walking and public transit usage, rather than car usage.
The micro mobility companies have criticised the holding of the referendum on the same day as the Paris marathon, and point out that only 7.5% of registered voters participated.
If upheld, the vote means around 15,000 e-scooters will be gone by 1st September. The vote is not binding, and some are holding out hope that the mayor will choose to keep the scooters in the city – however that currently seems most unlikely.
Source: TechCrunch.com
To England, where a new council authority came into being in North Yorkshire on Saturday, with the merging of eight councils into one unitary authority taking effect on the 1st April.
The BBC reports that the new council services a population of 618,000, and replaces a two-tier system of county and district councils that has been in place since 1974.
The new authority has 90 councillors, covering 89 wards, who will serve a term of four years.
They were elected last year, and spent their first year on the outgoing county council.
Savings from the new governance model are projected to be between £30M and £70M in the first few years.
Source: BBC News
In Canada, a councillor will be docked 10 days pay as punishment for tweets that were found to be in violation of the code of conduct for council members.
Toronto City Council voted to impose the penalty on Cr Josh Matlow after an investigation into two complaints made by city staff.
The tweets accused city staff of lying and criticised the appointment of an interim city manager.
CBC News says the penalty will amount to around $5,000. Cr Matlow has defended his comments and has refused to apologise.
Source: CBC News
And there’s a follow up to the story from our last episode about the relationship breakdown between the Mayor and CEO of Gore District Council in New Zealand.
Reports have emerged of Mayor Ben Bell walking out of a meeting of councillors called to discuss the issue and to appoint a designated intermediary.
Stuff reports that Mayor Bell said it was an emotional time and he did not want to answer councillors’ questions.
It’s also reported that he has opposed the council paying a $9,000 legal bill for mediation between the pair.
Meanwhile, Local Government Minister Keiran McAnulty says he is monitoring the conflict, but it has not yet reached a point at which he can intervene.
And as of Monday of this week, a long standing councillor, Bret Highsted, has resigned from the council, citing a highly stressful council environment with unsustainable levels of anxiety.
Something tells me this won’t be the last we hear of the troubles at Gore District Council.
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That’s the latest from the Roundup for the 5th April 2023.
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I’ll be back soon with more of the latest local government news. Until next time, thanks for listening, and bye for now.